Quilting

Yesterday I longarmed a preemie quilt and started a client's quilt. I made Frank a body, found my doll ears I've been looking for for about six months (I did a good job on those ears and really liked them), worked on a paranormal short story which seems to be turning into a novel, and sketched some bears.

Today, I finished the quilt, worked on the paranormal story, and prepped the next quilt which is on the frame right now.

I still have a few hours left until I give up for the day. I didn't do anything on Sunday, it being the holiday and all. But I've kind of made up for it the past two days. Tomorrow is Wednesday. I thought today was Wednesday but it isn't. Hopefully I can rectify my flip flop days. A new month is almost here. I'm only thinking about the rest of the evening.

Day 1

I was using today as the first day to break out of my comfort zone. The first part didn't go so well. I didn't get started until about five PM. But I got started and finished the first part of a new project. That's what I told myself that I would do today. The first step. The other project to work on is my writing which I will do that after I post this. I have no idea how this will turn out. It's something totally new. So we'll see.

Comfort Zone

I have slid into a comfort zone and I'm having a hard time getting out of it. Back in February, I wanted to have a project done a week. I did it. I was working on some old things and started some new things but I got four projects done. This month, not so great. My subconscious was telling me to knock it off. That things were getting a little uncomfortable. That's what change is. Uncomfortable. So I did nothing. Why rock the boat? Why have people look at me and question why I decided to do new things. Yes, it sounds stupid but I've found out that it goes all the way back to being a kid. I wasn't challenged to be great with my art. So I did just enough to make good grades. I didn't rock the boat. I didn't push my artwork because I was told it wouldn't get me anywhere. That art wasn't a viable career. So I coasted and fell into a comfort zone. That has plagued me until this day.

I am not done yet. I don't have a time machine to take me back to talk to my younger self. To say that I'm okay and so is my artwork. And there are wonderful occupations out there to do if I take that leap. Sometimes I think that I'm too old to start anything new but that's just not the case these days. I have so many wild, crazy, and creative ideas swirling around in my head. Will all of them work? Maybe not but if I don't work on them, I'll never know. Now that I do know where this psychosis comes from, it's time to do something about it. Have successes every month instead of every other month or every six months. Work on dealing with the fear. The worry that things won't turn out. Neither one gets you anywhere. And I'm tired of being held back.

I will start on my new projects this weekend. Do two minutes to see how things go. I'm usually good once I get started. I'm starting to shake already. We'll see.

Moving Right Along

At the beginning of the year, I said that I was going to make this my year. The past few years hadn't been great and I'm looking for a change. It's still early on and I will continue to work on it being my year. I'm not a fortune teller and have no idea of what will truly happen but I will work towards something very nice. I deserve that. I have quite a few friends on Facebook who are having an awfully hard time with this year and they want it over already. My hearts and prayers go out to them. It's been a strange year so far. Illnesses, deaths (in family and not), separations and divorces, those losing jobs, having cross country moves... I can't wrap my head around it and I don't know if I should try. Last week was a bump in the road. The change of seasons and the weird weather, the time change, and allergies. Those things kind of knocked me down and the doubts tried to set in. So for three days, I did nothing. I'm grateful that I could do nothing. I watched the spring sunlight change in my apartment. I straightened my apartment and work area. And I got rest. Now my head is clearer and I can move forward.

I've decided that I would not give up on some 'way out there' dreams. Like my trip to Scotland that I've wanted to do for over 30 years. My friend I was planning on taking the adventure with has decided that she can't think about it until her living and job situation changes. I get that. I truly understand. But I thought about it. If I give up my dreams, whether they happen or not, I've given up on a part of me. That dream may be the one thing to keep me going through all the other daily muck that happens. This dream may take several more years to accomplish but it's still there in my heart. The one bright beacon I can focus on. So I will tell her that I will dream for the both of us until she is ready to join in again. I know I will start guarding my time a bit more. Saying no a bit more often. Concentrating on what I want to do and where I want to go with it. I get one chance at this life. I will fight to make the best of it.

Here are my latest sketches of bears. I will do more this week.

Grateful

I'm so grateful I live in an area that boasts many things to do. I went to a free gelli print demo at Enchanted Cottage yesterday. Very cool. But I had to hold back. I can't do everything, even though I'd like to. I really like the Copic markers and will save up for more of those. I will be going to the local art museum soon to see an Ansel Adams exhibit. There's a small fee for that one but that's okay. I'm planning on not missing that.

My quilt guild's guest quilter was Judy Lilly. Oh my! What a wonderful lady and quilter. She does landscape quilts that look like paintings. Some of her pieces were painted and then stitched. Truly amazing. I didn't attend her workshop but I was able to ask her questions and she was kind enough to answer them. She said that she could see the wheels turning in my head. I had to laugh. These are the best pics.

Close up of pic below.

This one, the flowers were painted and then stitched around. Judy told me what paint she used, Pro Fab fabric paint from Pro Chemical Company. I will have to check them out.

I liked her story. She started out as a painter and also was a quilter. She was looking at a painting she had begun, then all the fabric that she had and wondered why she didn't make a painting with the fabric. She said she never finished that painting. Wow! And she's very prolific. She said it can take from one month up to three to do a quilt. And they are wall hanging size.  http://www.judylillyartquilts.com/

#artquilt #landscapequilt #judylilly

Still Waiting

Yes, still waiting to adjust to the time change mess. I'm glad I was able to come home early and take a nap. There's still a little brain fog hanging around but not like earlier this morning and yesterday. I did manage to vote. I hope you all exercised your right to do so.

Trying to keep up with the bear sketches but until the brain gets to working again, not counting on it. But here are a few.

I wish I could find all of my animal photos. They are somewhere safe in my apartment.

Time Change

I am so dragging. I so dislike the time change. It really sucks. I'm all out-of-sorts and there's so much to do. And my laptop is doing weird things, so I can't even watch Netflix. Seriously? I will plan out my week and it will be a doozy. Right now I don't want to think about it.

Yesterday I went to my first writer's talk. Chris Roerden who wrote Don't Murder Your Mystery and Don't Sabotage Your Submission spoke about showing vs. telling in your writing. I did learn a bit. I learned about creative non-fiction, which is to take a real life event and weave a story around it. I had no idea but I found out that I was reading a story like that. The main character was Flannery O'Connor, an actual writer, who left New York to move back home to Georgia when she got sick. That was the real life event and the author, Ann Napolitano wove a story around it. A fictional story. Interesting. I hadn't seen Chris in years and she remembered me. I used to belong to the same writer organization she belongs to and we would meet up for open mic night. I was able to talk to her and tell her what I was up to and she enjoyed hearing about my writing. She said that I was ahead of so many others because I was printing my stories off and ready for rewrites. I do have her first book and will go back and read it, now that I'm at the point in my stories. Which I can't believe. Rough drafts are done. Time to do the hard work of figuring out if they make sense to others. I will also start going to more events like this because I need to be around others who are also working on their writing and be able to speak to those who have been published traditionally or self published. Plus, most of the events are free or have a small fee.

So I don't need my laptop acting up right now.

I've got a new quilt top from a repeat client coming in tomorrow. This week I also have to think of what I'm going to do for my quilt guild's show that's coming up in May. Yep, nothing like waiting until the last minute to do something. At least it will be a wall hanging and not a king size quilt. There will also be a painting of doll parts. And more bear sketches. Where did the day go?

Bears

I got another page of a few sketches of bears. I am on the lookout for all the bear photos I've pulled from magazines and calendars. I have lots and of course, I can't find them. It would really help with practicing the drawing.  But I will work with what I've got. That's what I get for cleaning up. Those pics are very safe.

Moving Right Along

I've been crazy busy the past couple of days after a huge anxiety attack. The sun was out, it was nice and all I could think about was that I was stuck in my apartment. When I was younger, I would gas up my truck and hit the road, go to a park, whatever. Now, I don't really like going places by myself. Then the downward spiral began and well... it wasn't pretty. I told myself to stop it. Put my big girl britches on and do something. Anything to make the mental funk go away. I made up messy mix to cover a couple of dolls I'm working on. Remember Verity? Well, I got over not doing the next step. Deanna Hogan came up with this combination of modeling paste and gel medium to hide the stitches from needle sculpting the features. I've put on two layers. I sand in between and I will put on a couple more. I repainted the alien feet. The little green guys lying down. And put Creative Paperclay on my two Halloween dolls. When you don't work on things you've always done, you forget what you did. So I'm covering up some stitches on their heads so I can paint them. I typed up two short stories I had written. I wrote out the character list for my mystery story. I didn't have time to feel low. That was Sunday.

Monday I worked on a top secret project. A new client dropped off a quilt top to be longarmed. I outlined my mystery story. Continued working on dolls and sketched a page of bears. I did 29 Faces last month and the plan was to do bears this month for another project. Of course, I'm a little behind.

Today I longarmed a quilt. That took all day.

I'm home now and have eaten dinner. It was filling but not great.  I'm tired but it's a good tired. I will sketch some bears and work on one of my stories. Never give up.

Learned Something New

Today, I took a workshop using alcohol inks. Very interesting. I have many ideas that I would like to work on but for now, I will continue to learn the medium. It's actually pretty cool. And can be a bit messy. I'm all for that.

Hello March!

Month number three. A quarter of the way through 2016. Are you grabbing it by the horns, hair, tail? Whatever? I tell you, I am working on it. Already, this year is different from last year. A lot different. I've already finished several projects. I will have to take a pic of my done list. A couple of times I had to remember to write down the project on the done list. It does make a difference to see things done. At the end of the year, I don't have to try to remember all the things that I'd finished. It's easier to remember everything that I didn't finish, so that won't happen this year.

Right now, I'm still excited. The fear hasn't totally disappeared but I continue to shove it to the back of mind little mind. One of my big projects is under way. I will be able to show pics, hopefully, in a few weeks. My second big project is to update my wardrobe. I'm not a clothes horse or fashionista but I want a few items that I can wear and feel good about myself. If I wasn't wearing a suit when I worked in an office, or a uniform at some retail place, I wore another uniform of blue/black jeans and a top. A short sleeve tee, a long sleeve tee with a sweater in cold weather. Very plain. Very boring. Not even comfortable anymore. Nothing nice to wear at art openings. I don't want to look like a college art student for the rest of my life. I'm going to go retro. I've seen ladies walk around downtown in retro 50s. They look amazing. I even spoke to them and they told me they dressed like that everyday. I thought that was wonderful. They were confident. You could look at them and just tell. They also knew they looked good. They owned the 'look'. They didn't care about what anyone else thought because they knew who they were. I've also seen a retro 60s couple. That's all they wore. First, I have to find some patterns. Foundation pieces are the key to some looks.

Halloween projects are in design mode. Many will be in either paper clay/mache or polymer clay. Different media for me. I've worked with them before but not on a large scale.

Spring is coming. This year I'm ready for it. Ready to get outside, walk, hike, find some waterfalls, have a bag lunch outside. Yep, winter can hit the road. Well, we really haven't had a winter where I am. That's cool. Time to get this day going. Have a good one.